Oh my goodness. I thought that I was the only one who thought that things have begun to creep to the point where between gas creep and restaurant price creep (including tip figured after taxes) that my family is not dining out as much as we used to. Funny note is that my daughter and her boyfriend,both college students, have taken to sharing entrees when they go out. Portions in many places where they dine have gotten larger, and so, they share one entree and pay whatever premium the restaurant charges for the extra place setting. They recently dined at Jesse Wong's and split one entree and still had leftovers.

I heard the other side of the tipping coin from a friend whose son is working as a waiter at a chain this summer. People sometimes leave NO tip, or even underpay the bill, which means he loses money, rather than makes money. This especially happens with large groups late at night. The worse story was about a group of 60 women who each wanted an individual check.

I was at the Bay Cafe last week and a member of our party noticed that the menu stated that a 17% tip would automatically be included on the bill. Not just for large parties, but for everyone! That must be the reason why the waitress didn't feel compelled to show up for fifteen minutes after we sat down, kept forgetting to put the lime in my beer (the kind that always come with a lime) every time we ordered a round, and brought us lukewarm steamed shrimp. Even worse, the handwritten bill did not have the 17% tip on it, but when the waitress ran our credit card, there was a 17% bump in the bill from the one that was handed to us before we paid. The credit card slip had a line for a tip to be written in, and there was no indication that the 17% had already been added. The table next to us had to wait fifteen minutes too, and ended up going to the bar to get their own drinks. And the place was practically deserted! This wasn't the first time the service there was just awful, and perhaps the automatic tip has something to do with it.

Could part of it be that more people work in the service industry as young people? I worked as a waitress for all of high school and most of college, and now that I go out a lot I leave really good tips. Even when the service isn't great, I rarely leave less than 20%, because I can remember back to all my own "off days" and just give the benefit of the doubt.

My first job was as a waitress, so I am of two minds here.
On the one hand, I know what good service should be.
On the other, I remember how hard the work was and how rude some customer could be and, also, how kind.
I never tip less than 20% for any service that is even just adequate, and tip more than 20% for very good or excellent service.

I'm with Janet. I too used to waitress and wouldn't leave less than 20% unless the service wasn't up to par.

On the other hand, I am offended when a restaurant has an automatic tip added to the bill, even for a large party. In that case, I do not leave 20% but only the 17% or 18% they dictate.

I agree with Janet, I'm a server and have experienced what is to be under tipped even when you have given a good service. What people do not see is that the server lives on the tips clients leaves, servers do not get paid properly by the hour, and everything goes in taxes... so I say 20% is good, now if you get a bad service do not feel bad leaving 15% or even 10% if it is really bad... but leave more than 20% for excellent service... and be kind. I know what good service is, and I always leave 25% to 30%. I understand aswell why 20% tip in fine dinning is added and 18% or 15% in other places... you have no idea how terrible people can be, it shows lack of appreciation for the server work, so don't get upset, is not for those who does know how to tip... if for those who doesn't... now, having that in every check like Bay Cafe does it, that is wrong, plus food there is horrible.

It would be nice if tipping really was going up, because while the cost of living in Baltimore is ridiculous (you should see what people are trying to rent for $2,300 in Canton!), servers still make less than $3 an hour. I wish more people were aware of this.

I hate restaurants that include tip in the check. On a recent vacation to Bermuda my husband and I noted that EVERY restaurant (no matter how casual or fancy) added tip and let me tell you, there was only one restaurant that gave us good service over a whole week of dining out.

TIP is to insure promptness from what I was always told but today it is expected regardless. I can understand that everyone has a bad day but come on, it is a servers job to try to put that aside and make our meal the best they can. As prices rise for the food their tips increase anyway so I don't know why the "standard" percentage keeps going up.

I agree with KB. My daughter has been a waitress for several years now and it is amazing how many people who don't realize that the minimum wage for wait staff is different from the minimum wage for everybody else. Folks who seem to be very aware of their world think that the tip is over and above the $6.15 MD minimum hourly rate! This info needs to get out to the general public.

Yeah, I'm a server, been doing it for 5 yrs now, and it does pay the bills. I make an mindblowing $3.08 an hour. I work a very successful rest in Fell's Point. To give you an example, lets say your bill was $100.00 and you left $20 as a tip, 20%, I only take home $14 of that. I have to tip out my bar staff and my support staff like bussers, hosts, and foodrunners. then you figure that I owe taxes on that. So if I had one table an hour at that rate. When I make $23.08 an hour, I'm really only making like $12-13. I apologize for the mandatory tip on large parties, but it's a fail safe, you have no idea how many people don't know how to tip. Also everyone keeps stating how the cost of living has gone up, does anyone think that if you wait tables, the cost stay the same???

I come from the opposite side of this topic. I have just seen too much with my own eyes to ever be fooled into wait staff not making enough from 15% tip. I worked in the back of the house for 15 years and when I was still working the line, the average pay for cooks was $13.00 an hour. On a daily basis I had to listen to wait staff moan and complain about how little money they would make and then, at the end of shift, I would watch them count out the $150 to $180 they had made that day. In our area, wait staff got paid a little over $3.00 so that would be $24.00 a day in additional wages.

So just do the math
150.00 (tip money)
Divided by 10% (for tip out to assistive staff)
135.00 (tip remainder)
+ 24.00 (for hourly wages)
= 159.00 (a day)

Wait staff for a week
159.00
x 5 days a week
= 795.00 a week

Cooks for a week
13.00 (an hour)
x 40 (hours a week)
= 520.00 (for the cooks)

The difference
795.00 (waiter earnings)
- 520.00 (cook earnings)
= 275.00 (more than cooks)

Even if you change the tip out to 25%, that’s still $682.50 a week.

I know it is a little different because I am not from this area, but I just can’t boohoo for them and I will only tip on the value of my service. I work hard for my money too and I don’t want to toss my money at anyone. Please don’t get me wrong, I know they live off of tips and I don’t believe in being a scrooge with tipping. It’s just that taking my order for two minutes, dropping my plate off for 30 seconds, and stopping in for a 5 second “is everything alright” is in no way earning a 18% or 20% tip. And for those who think I don’t understand the other side, I used to be a waiter too. I worked both at a catering company and at restaurants. It is how I started out in the hospitality industry.

My take – tip is earned, NOT automatic.

Just to let you know that the Backfin Restaurant in Pikesville has closed. My husband & I rode past it this week & there were signs that it is to be auctioned off.

I would love to find a job in that restaurant that Bill says... $159. every night on a 5 days week of work.... $795 a week how lovely... every week of the year... no slow season, not bad days... where is that please...
How about this... Make a line for 2 min...Try talking to the Cheff in rush time and explain him how is it that you want your meat not too red not too pink and no garlic in the Garlic mash potatoes... wait for other 10 min for your food to be ready, take 30 seconds to drop your plates(yours and your date) at your table, poor your wine, and if your food is not so good, stand up..leave your date alone and try to find somebody to fix your problem(probably another 10 min)... wait another 10 min for your food to be ready... then your date would like some water.. stand up again and get some water... .. oops! what happend to the salad that she told you to get for her.. its too late now, she just want her strawberry short cake without strawberry.. go and try to talk again to the Cheff...dont forget her latte with 2% milk and decaff coffe and your black coffe with splenda ... and at the end dont forget to clean after yourself, is rude to leave a table dirty for others custumers...reset the table... not so simple I think... and I didn't mention some other "Simple things".